Chris Young

Steven Fletcher expects an eventful summer at Sunderland with the futures of both Dick Advocaat and several players in question.

Sunderland hope to persuade Advocaat to remain as head coach over the next 72 hours after his short-term tenure in charge of the Black Cats expired following yesterday’s 3-1 defeat at Chelsea.

There’ll be a lot of people leaving too, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Steven Fletcher

But Advocaat is not the only name who could leave the Stadium of Light before the start of next season.

The loan deals of Sebastian Coates, Ricky Alvarez and Santiago Vergini have expired – albeit there is a permanent move in place for the latter – while Wes Brown and Anthony Reveillere are out of contract.

There could also be further departures, with Fletcher one of those in question, as he approaches the final 12 months of his Sunderland contract.

Fletcher said: “It’s down to the manager now and the board speaking to him and how it works out.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.

“There will be a lot happening in the summer.

“There’ll be a lot of people leaving too, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Fletcher hopes that Advocaat is not one of those who departs though after fulfilling his remit of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League.

“He’s a hero with the Sunderland fans for keeping us up,” said the Scot.

“We’ve reacted to him because he’s given us the belief.

“He’s brought the best out of us.

“He fills us all with confidence. He talks to you individually which is a good thing.

“When you have a good man-manager like he is, it makes a massive difference.”